Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

the housekeeper and the professor is a touching, subtle, simultaneously simple and complex story. in the vein of much of japanese literature, it has a whimsy touch, able to weave magic in and from the simplest, most ordinary things.

the immense significance and amount of math did throw me off guard, but i was also awed at how ogawa was able to make it seem poetic and, dare i say, even slightly miraculous. but the baseball sections def made me feel lost as i have no knowledge abt it whatsoever.

my fav thing abt this book is perhaps the relationships and bonds between the main characters: the housekeeper, her son, and the professor, where the latter's short-term memory--which couldve easily been just sth to make the book ~quirky~--actually strengthened the aforementioned relationship, and their time and mini adventures tgt, though so ordinary, felt like remarkable, subtly magical feats. i also appreciate how the book didnt make the ending melodramatic w/ a sudden death like i was dreading. a touching, though intimidatingly math-filled story.

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i_llumi's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

oh man as a math nerd and a slice of life bitch this was such a joy to read!! I absolutely adored spending time talking about the beauty of prime numbers with a nameless housewife, her 'root-shaped' haired son, and an iconic math professor.

I 100% want to reread this book at some other time though, because I read most of it at school (I tried to avoid reading it in math classes as a sign of respect to the Professor) and sometimes my mind would drift off and I'd lose focus :c

Ogawa Yoko san's writing was honestly super accessible (there was not One furigana throughout the entire book and I managed to get through it fine?????) without sounding too simple - it was like a warm comforting blanket that just poured love into me.

spoiler (kinda?)

this is probably due to my attention span as aforementioned, but sometimes I felt like Hakase's memory went way over 80 minutes? idk I really need to reread some bits. and ngl, I was quite confused at the baseball scenes... I had 0 idea what they were talking about

definitely one of those books that I'll think about randomly at some point daily <3

e^{πi}+1=0

Content Warnings

internationalreads's review

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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